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Plasma and Beam Physics

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Theses/Dissertations

1991

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Magnetic Field Strength Of Toroidal Plasma Equilibria, David Alan Garren Jan 1991

Magnetic Field Strength Of Toroidal Plasma Equilibria, David Alan Garren

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The goal of nuclear fusion research is to confine a deuterium-tritium plasma at a sufficiently high temperature (15 keV) and density (3 $\times$ 10$\sp{20}$ m$\sp{-3}$) for a sufficient length of time (1 sec) to produce net fusion power. One means to attain the required plasma confinement is to embed the plasma within a magnetic field. The global structure of this magnetic field determines the variation of magnetic field strength within the surfaces of constant plasma pressure. This field strength variation in turn determines many of the stability and confinement properties of the plasma. This dissertation gives the first detailed exposition …


Completely Bootstrapped Tokamak, Richard Henry Weening Jan 1991

Completely Bootstrapped Tokamak, Richard Henry Weening

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

A fundamental requirement for the successful operation of a tokamak is the maintenance of a toroidal electric current within the tokamak plasma itself. Maintaining this internal plasma current can be a very difficult technological problem. In this work, a well-known but non-standard method for maintaining the tokamak current called the bootstrap effect is discussed. The bootstrap effect occurs when a fusion plasma is near thermonuclear conditions, and allows the tokamak to greatly amplify its electric current.;Because the bootstrap effect amplifies but does not create a plasma current, it has long been argued that a completely bootstrapped tokamak is not possible. …